Warm thoughts

Symbiosis International University, Pune, in collaboration with Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, held their annual event 'Footprints' in Hyderabad on the 4th of November this year. The central theme this year was 'The Green Battle '.

Below are a couple of my contributions to the mobile photography category.



Guess who does the roaring business here!
Location - In front on a hospital as an ambulance carries a patient out to a better facility.





Carbon Credits! Who is counting?

Another keralapals forward

Simply couldn't stop laughing. I am calling it the 'Kadak chai Mallu ishtyle'.

I agree that children do not understand the concept of 'quality time'

What one needs to become a.....

I have always believed in the power of effective communication. Even when bpo jobs seemed demeaning, I held true to that thought. Needless to say, after two years in GE, no one ever got away by belittling a call-centre job, before me. In the past year, the excellent course and faculty from MICA, also helped strengthen my belief.

So what do I mean by effective communication? Well, I have no dictionary definition or flowchart diagrams to show you. All I can say is this – The degree of effectiveness of communication is proportional to the degree of its honesty. Does that perhaps sound a tad mathematical to you? Ah, fiddlesticks!

I had a unique opportunity this summer to visit the ‘Sabarmati Ashram’ in Ahmedabad and photograph some letters. These were letters written to as well as by the Mahatma. Several letters were from other leaders of note. It was merely a curiosity experiment and not due to any personal affiliations. I have read speeches and talks of several other well-known leaders from time to time. My conclusion is this - The truly venerated leaders were not just those who were charismatic, but all who were completely and painfully honest. They seldom coloured the truth. Of course, when you were writing to ‘Hitler’ some degree of sanity was called for, I suppose.

There is also a new form of communication. I call it “The diplomatically honest speech” and happened to learn it the painful way – which is, by doing it. Obviously, because I did it, I now realize its necessity and of course it is sour grapes, but that’s beside the point! Jokes apart, the truth can sometimes harm more than help. The decision to present it is definitely always a judgment call. The degree of honesty in your speech is also dependant on your personal ambitions. Letters to your children are meant to have pearls of wisdom and oodles of truth and honesty. They are easy. Public speeches however, are a different ballgame.

How big a leader you can be, depends entirely on how much you can put everything personal, on the back-burner and focus on everything else that remains. You can be a Vajpayee or an Advani. The choice is entirely yours.

Spicing the variety quotient

In my blog you will find a lot of things. From videos with a message to commercials that I enjoy as well as email stories that touch some chord deep within me (like I was some tightly strung string instrument, which perhaps we all can sometimes identify with).

This blog is not just a collection of my thoughts but of others as well that have a resonance with mine. Sometimes others can express better what we feel and due credit should be given to them as well. I don’t write very often. Preferring instead, to read other’s thoughts. Quite often certain links direct my perceptions to a completely different world of thought. It is quite difficult sometimes to entertain certain notions without personal prejudices colouring them. But I try.

Recently I came across this article about an old lady and her lifetime accomplishments. It was a thoroughly touching one. It is immaterial for me, to have the facts verified. First, because of her recent demise. Second, because the story is about humanity. The holocaust was an extremely painful and macabre act of human viciousness. We do not need to be reminded of it by trying to dig up more skeletons. It shouldn’t have happened period. If the story below does not bring tears to yours eyes, then perhaps you are better equipped to deal with insanity than the rest of us. If it does, then welcome to the club where humanity still exists.

There is no shame in tears. Nor, is there any shame if your goals are delayed by a couple of years. If indeed, the Nobel went to Al Gore (who has many more years to live), instead of this lady then all I have to say is ‘peace to you.’

Irena Sendler

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the WarsawGhetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.) Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids....) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed.. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.

Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

"Hope there is a library in heaven, life otherwise sounds extremely dull out there! Sleep eat & relax without much else to do. How boring :("

The power of Honesty and Open Communication

The shocking revelation by David letterman about his illicit affairs, on his very own show was more than just good PR. While not a great letterman fan, I do appreciate his communication skills and that slapstick variety of humour. I am impressed by the way in which he completely altered the news from an absolute scandal to a story about personal tragedy. What is impressive is that his rendition of the story in full media killed all the hype about it. David is a celebrity in his own right. The news about his affairs with his co-workers (if released otherwise) would have perhaps shocked a large audience.

While I attribute a great deal of credit to David's communication skills, there is perhaps one other question that needs to be answered. Is the public really coming of age? Have we finally accepted that humans are not infallible and all of our idols are human after all? Have we finally realized that there is no shame in failure? Several such related questions cross my mind as I am sure it does yours. I am hoping that the answers are an affirmative, for that would mean a more tolerant world. A world with a lot less people making value judgments than before.

Hanging on to that ray of hope.

From my english dictionary

Invincible = Vincible from within

Incapable = Capable from the inside

Insurmountable = _ _ _ _....

The HAM said, "In my next life, I would like to be on top of the ham-burger or be called a ham-in-the-burger."

Copywriting my Coloured Wisecracks, literally!

Some days I can barely string words into coherently thought ideas. Some days they overflow like a toothpaste tube under pressure. I like to delude myself by calling it a writers block. "But you are no writer!", the logical part of my brain tells me. I still go with the self delusion as there is no other explanation.

Some days my dry wit , saucy quips along with my self branded humour, makes even the most pickled veteran exclaim after me, "What a jolly good girl :)." And there are days, when for the life of me, I cannot recognize fun and wit :(. My conscious recognizes both. Such is the complexity of the human mind.

Have been pining away to glory about my loss of sense of humour lately. Citing it the sense-of-humour-ectomy stage. Today however, all of a sudden, my fingers twitched all over the keyboard to make jumbled noises that seemed funny (at least to me). Since my fixation with fb and twitter isn't over yet, I decided to transfer those thoughts here as well.

Oh and btw (by-the-way) if you just notice all the I(s) and me(s) there are above, you'll understand that I am seriously in a very 'I, me, myself', stage right now.

And here are some of those thoughts -

I understand tough English very well but fail to understand the point of it.

In the spirit of "World Peace"! ... and the dove flies away to oblivion

Righteous morality is death of the free spirit and true happiness.

Critics the world over (today), have dark souls - literally. From criminality, bloodshed, tears, poverty to pain, hunger and everything in between, is appreciated. But be sure to give them some fun, humour, laughter or light along with some anti-allergic(s) too.

Being 'Infamous' is infinitely better than being 'Posthumously Famous'

'Creative Inspirations' some times have diabolic timing! If only we could punch it in the face and say, 'SIT'.

I wish to travel around the world and visit every little place there is to see in a lot more than 80 days! Gotta start saving, so no more wasteful shopping! Tough!

I prefer to say 'Tough' more than 'Alas' as it conveys more feeling.

Infamous is glamorous! I however, simply don't fit the bill ...glamorous that is... ;)